Sampath Bank, despite the challenging conditions in 2020, has continued to prioritise the needs of all stakeholders.
And, notwithstanding the extraordinary difficulties encountered during the year, Sampath Bank continued to grow in 2020 with the bank’s asset base expanding by 15.4 per cent to cross the historical Rs. 1 trillion mark to reach Rs. 1.1 trillion as at end December 2020, from Rs. 962 billion reported as at end December 2019.
The bank saw its Profit After Tax (PAT) decline from Rs. 11.1 billion in 2019 to Rs. 8 billion for the year 2020. Despite the 28 per cent drop, it is nonetheless a noteworthy result against the backdrop of the COVID-19 induced economic slowdown locally and globally.
The bank registered a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs.11.2 billion compared to Rs. 15.5 billion recorded in 2019, a decline of 27.9 per cent, the bank said in a media release.
The PBT and PAT of the group for the year ending December 2020 stood at Rs. 11.9 billion and Rs. 8.4 billion respectively, showing a decline of 27.2 per cent and 27.6 per cent respectively.
It said the combined impact of the lower interest regime and the concessionary interest rates charged during debt moratorium phase I, drove down the bank’s NII by 18.6 per cent from Rs. 41.6 billion in the previous year to Rs.33.8 billion in 2020.
The bank said it continued to closely monitor all variables affecting the NII supported by necessary follow up action to prudently manage the same throughout the year.
On net fee and commission income, the bank said its ability to generate fee based income was adversely affected by the 2-month long island-wide lockdown as well as due to region-wise mobility restrictions imposed by the authorities from time to time in order to control the spread of COVID-19.
The resulting low level of economic activity and restricted hours of business operations, had a sizable impact on the volume of fee based transactions carried out by the bank during the year. Further, suspending or refunding of certain charges by the bank, considering the current difficulties faced by customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, also negatively impacted the bank’s fee based income.
Sampath Bank’s deposit base expanded by Rs. 168.6 billion or 23.5 per cent during the year to reach Rs. 886.9 billion as at end December 2020, compared to the Rs. 718.3 billion reported as at end December 2019. This growth was largely backed by the Current and Savings Account